State of the Market

[eek]

DWP IT degree apprenticeships earn £28,000 a year get a civil service pension and 1 day off for university.

Just want to show how bad the pay being offered is

[Fraidycat]

I don’t get it. Are they really able to hire a sw dev (I imagine it will require some experience at least) on an FTC for 25-28k a year (not sure how many hrs/week)? And not just that, one that is 100% on-site in the SE which somewhat limits the candidate pool.

Given the continued mass immigration from countries like India over the past few years, I would expect there to be a lot more experienced applicants for entry level sw dev roles but find it hard to accept that it’s got to this level.

They have got to be looking for recent graduates at that price. Lots of under graduates use Node and Javascript and Mongo for hobby projects and they get taught Java at uni. Code quality will likely be rubbish if no proper code review system is in place, but you get what you pay for.

[sreed]

I don’t get it. Are they really able to hire a sw dev (I imagine it will require some experience at least) on an FTC for 25-28k a year (not sure how many hrs/week)? And not just that, one that is 100% on-site in the SE which somewhat limits the candidate pool.

Given the continued mass immigration from countries like India over the past few years, I would expect there to be a lot more experienced applicants for entry level sw dev roles but find it hard to accept that it’s got to this level.

[SchumiStars]

This is crazy
Not being funny but seems like you are being paid an offshore rate for an onshore job.

Have you looked at companies like Detica / BAE systems? They are chock full of technical people from top unis.

I have a confirmed interview, 5 days on-site, 30miles away from home, paying £13.50 PAYE per hour. The job is software development requiring Java, Node, MongoDB, Docker and also security clearance.

Just to add, I'm an Oxford Grad, living in London. Unfortunately, it does seem as though I will be attending and lowering my own expectations of achievable day rate

Nevermind, got to take the rough with the smooth I suppose and no-one knows when this rough tide will end.

Did the interview. The interviewer said he had another 8 people to see for the role but I am clearly over qualified. He wants someone who will do the job for 12mths.

Said, I would be bored tulipless. Did give me a couple of contracts I could ask that the company use for software development.

He asked a couple of times, why I wanted the job and without seeming desperate, I said I needed a job at his company and was hoping that the oppuntunity may lend itself to other possibilities.

He said he was surprised that I turned up and there was a note on the file, saying I was over qualified for the role.

Frustrated, dishearted and generally wondering when the universe will lend me a hand.

[ResistanceFighter]

in previous good years, when should the market start "heating up" to get ready for the new financial year? about now?

[PerfectStorm]

Things are a little dry this week. Becoming particularly conscious of how many of the public sector opportunities are nonsense projects designed to keep consultancies (and their donor owners) busy.

I even entertained a "jabappatunity" call, just to see if I'm being too hasty in usually terminating their time wasting. it didn't go well.

[gables]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

Very very good points which I'm embarrassed to say I'd forgotten about when posting... I only had a 50 quid overdraft when I graduated due to grants and help from parents.

[edison]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

I came from a lower income family so received a maximum grant, about £2000 in my first year in 1986, around £6k in today's money.

No tuition fees, also received housing benefit. I had plenty of friends who bought their first flat or even house by their mid-20s.

I don't think full time university is good value for money for a lot of degree courses now but there is a real shortage of decent apprenticeship scheme alternatives.

[eek]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

1990 I got a small grant for uni and we bought our first house in 1994 - for a think 3times Mrs Eek’s income

[WTFH]

Which is roughly the UK average which I was alluding to, so not much change really since 1989 ;-)

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.